give a little time to me
by sawitinhereyes
Summary: so that's what this summer is gonna be, she decides. she's going to be happy, and she's not going to let anything get in her way. / damon & elena, the summer between seasons 4 & 5.


**Note:** because I felt robbed when all I got of their summer together was a montage at the beginning of 5x01. spoilers through season 4, references to 6x02 and 6x07.

{ I own nothing }

* * *

The last few days have been a crazy rush of emotion. She's so twisted up she doesn't even know how she feels at this point. Alaric's gone (again), and Bonnie left town for the summer right after graduation, and Stefan left town so he doesn't have to be around her (them) anymore. She should be more upset than she is, probably.

But truthfully, she deserves to not be sad for once. She's had so much heartache in the last two years, and she's lost so much this year alone (she _died_ , for crying out loud) that she doesn't want to dwell on it anymore. She wants to celebrate the fact that her baby brother came back from the dead (the 'how' is still a mystery, but she's not gonna ask questions), and that they finally made it through a high school rite of passage without a catastrophic disaster, and that at the end of the summer she's going off to college, and that she can _finally_ be with the man she loves without anything getting in the way.

She just wants to be _happy_.

So that's what this summer is gonna be, she decides. She's going to enjoy every moment she can get with the people she loves. She's going to stay up too late with her friends and go on dates with her boyfriend and boss her little brother around just because she can. She's going to be happy, and she's not going to let anything get in her way.

... ... ...

Step one in her quest for the happiest summer ever?

Get her boyfriend out of bed.

"Come _on_ ," she groans, and he must mistake it to mean something other than it does because he just pins her to the mattress and presses kisses across her collarbone, so she rolls them over so she's on top of him. "Damon. I'm serious."

"So am I," he whines, his hands sneaking underneath her (his) shirt before she swats them away. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for, and the only way we can do that is if we don't leave this bed for _at least_ another month."

She giggles despite herself, leans down to kiss him, braces herself with her hands on either side of his head. "We've spent the last three days in here."

"Yes, and don't act like you haven't loved it because I haven't heard you complain _once_."

"Kinda hard to say anything at all when you don't let me come up for air, like, ever."

He smirks devilishly, runs his hands up her thighs, sneaks them underneath her (his) shirt again. "That's the point."

She grabs his hands before they can go any further and pins them above his head. "You wouldn't want your girlfriend to think you only want her around for the sex, would you?"

"Please," he scoffs. "The fact that I call her my girlfriend should be more than enough proof. I don't survive _two_ werewolf bites for just anyone."

"Damon," she whines. "I'm trying to be _normal_ for once."

"Yes, well." He turns the tables, flips them over so he can pin her arms above her head. "Staying in bed for weeks at a time is what normal people do when they're in love."

"Oh, really," she quirks an eyebrow, "because you're an expert."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm _trying_ to be romantic."

"You're failing, because I want to go _do_ something, and you're holding me hostage."

"Stop lying to yourself." He kisses her forehead, her cheek, her chin, that spot behind her ear that she loves. "You love being held hostage."

She flips them back over before he can continue. "Damon Salvatore, if you don't get out of this bed and take me somewhere else, I'm sleeping in another bedroom tonight."

She'll give him credit; his pout face is pretty damn cute. "You wouldn't." Then he smirks again. "Fine. We should get to work anyway; we've got a lot of bedrooms to christen in this house."

She holds his hands in hers to keep them from going places she doesn't (really) want them, gives him her best pout face in return. "Please?" she whines. "For me?"

She knows she's got him when he scowls up at her. "You're lucky you're so fucking cute," he grumbles, and she grins, kisses him quickly and climbs off of him before he can turn the tables again.

... ... ...

"Remind me why you wanted to do this again."

She opens one eye from where she's lying on their picnic blanket, enjoying the sun warming her skin. Damon's leaning back on one hand, popping grapes into his mouth with the other, looking thoroughly bored. She rolls her eyes at him, closes them again.

"Because we're being _normal_. Just enjoy it."

"It's, like, eight thousand degrees out here."

"Maybe you wouldn't be overheating if you weren't wearing dark jeans in June."

He signs heavily. "You know, this is unnatural. Vampires burn in the sun. We're defying the laws of nature, Elena."

"The fact that we are vampires in the first place defies the laws of nature, _Damon_." She sits up, crawls over to him, pushes at his chest until he's flat on his back. She presses herself against his side, throws her arm over his stomach, closes her eyes again. "Just be here with me."

He sighs again, wraps his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. He kisses her forehead, and he's trying to hide his smile, but she can feel it against her skin, hear it in his voice. "If you insist."

... ... ...

They're making breakfast together one morning when he brings up the elephant in the room.

"Should we be worried that we haven't heard from Stefan?"

She's been thinking the same thing, truth be told, but she didn't want to say anything. Considering their history, she thought it might be a sore subject, and she's still not quite sure how he and Damon left things.

"I don't think so," she decides, picking a strawberry out of the fruit salad she just finished making. "I think, after everything that's happened, he just needs some space. He'll come around."

"Yeah, but it's not like we're fighting or anything. We actually left things on pretty good terms this time." His brow furrows, and she can't really tell if he's concerned or if he's just concentrating on flipping the pancakes. "I've called him a few times, and nothing."

"I'm sure he's fine."

"I'm not worried about his physical safety," Damon mumbles as he plates the pancakes, turns the stove off.

She sighs and wraps her arms around his neck. "Look, as much as I hate to think about it, I broke his heart. _We_ broke his heart. He just needs some time to breathe. He's your brother, Damon, and he loves you. He can't stay away forever."

He nods, looks into her eyes, brushes her bangs out of her face, leans down to kiss her. Then he clears his throat. "So, what's on the agenda for our _normal_ summer today?"

She looks outside, watches the rain trickle down the window panes, and sighs. "I _really_ wanted to go to the pool today."

Damon smirks. "Such a shame the weather wouldn't cooperate."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I know you're devastated." She kisses him, because she wants to, and she can. "Let's go to the movies."

He sighs dramatically. "You've got to be kidding me."

" _Damon_."

He rolls his eyes. "Fine. But I get to pick the movie."

He keeps trying to convince her that he hates it, this whole concept of _normal_ , but he pretends like he doesn't like any of the movies and makes her choose, and then he buys her popcorn and soda and candy. And if that wasn't proof enough that he's a big fat liar, she can tell he thoroughly enjoys making out with her in the back of the dark, empty theatre while some stupid comedy plays in the background.

... ... ...

"When did you first know you loved me?"

They're lying on the grass in the sprawling backyard of the Salvatore boarding house looking at the stars, and she's more relaxed than she's felt in a really, really long time. She can tell he is, too, because his breathing is slow and even like he's sleeping, but he presses kisses to her scalp every so often so she knows he's not.

She peeks up at him, and his eyes are closed. "That's a little deep for a game of 20 questions."

She giggles. "I'm serious."

"It was definitely when you kissed me even though I was all slimy and gross from, you know, dying of a werewolf bite."

She rolls her eyes, tries to pull away to look at him. "Damon."

"Shh." He pulls her back down. "Okay, fine. I'll bite." He's quiet for a moment, and she wonders if their history is playing like a movie in his head like it is in hers right now.

Finally, he clears his throat. "When Bonnie let Stefan save me the night of the fire."

She almost laughs again, but he sounds serious, so she doesn't. "But… that was Bonnie and Stefan. What did any of that have to do with me?"

"Because she did it for you." He opens his eyes, stares up at the sky instead of meeting hers. "Because she loves you, and she wants to protect the people you care about. Which meant that at some point, despite all the horrible things I did, all the reasons I gave you to hate me, you decided that I was worth saving, and she realized that." He takes a deep breath. "I haven't had many people in my life who believe in me like you do, especially since I became a vampire. There aren't many people who would care if I live or die, but you do, and you did that night. It made me want to be worthy of that. Maybe I didn't show it too well, and I probably still don't, but it made me a better person. _You_ made me a better person."

He looks down at her then, gives her one of his little, secret smiles that he saves just for her. "I probably loved you before that, if we're being honest, but that was the first time I knew it."

She can't think of anything to say in return, can't think of anything that would do justice to what she feels, so she just kisses him instead. She rolls herself on top of him, and he wraps his arms tight around her middle to keep her there, but he pulls away before things can get too heated.

"Don't think you're getting off that easy," he smirks. "Your turn."

"Damon Salvatore wants to talk about his _feelings_ instead of make out?"

"Damon Salvatore wants his girlfriend to make him feel like he's not making an ass of himself. Spill the beans, missy."

She sighs, rests her forehead against his chest, tries to get her bearings. She's never really thought about it before, about when she knew she loved him. Or maybe she just never wanted to think about it, because if she's really honest with herself, she loved him even when she loved Stefan. And just like that, she knows.

"My birthday," she whispers. "When you gave me my necklace back."

He doesn't say anything, but she hears his breath catch in his throat.

"You loved me then," she reminds him needlessly. "Even though I loved Stefan. And despite what that necklace meant for Stefan and I, you knew how much it meant to me. You like to tell me how selfish you are, but in that moment… you were the most selfless I'd ever seen you, and I loved you. And it scared the hell out of me."

She lifts her head, and she sees the emotion in his eyes, knows he feels every bit of what she feels. He leans up to kiss her, rolls them over and presses himself as close to her as he can get, and she figures it's okay that he can't find the words to say, because with Damon, actions always speak louder than words.

... ... ...

She's in the shower one morning when he sneaks in behind her and scares the hell out of her.

"You're mean," she whines, shoving him away halfheartedly as he smirks.

"Good morning to you, too, sourpuss." He kisses the scowl off her lips, and she leans her head back underneath the shower spray as he reaches for the shampoo bottle. "Someone's a little grumpy this morning. Did Blondie shove too many shots down your throat?"

Caroline's been a little lonely lately, and since Tyler hasn't been returning her calls, she needed to blow off a little steam. When Elena offered herself up for a girls' night, Caroline took full advantage, and even with her vampire alcohol tolerance she feels sluggish this morning. She sways a little on her feet, leans forward to rest her head on his sternum. "Head hurts. So tired."

She feels his lips against her wet hair and then his hands massaging shampoo into her scalp, and she almost moans. "You poor baby," he teases.

"Stop being mean," she whines again. "I'm not at full strength to defend myself."

"Oh, stop whining." He shoves her underneath the spray and she tips her head back to rinse out the shampoo. "You finish up in here, I'll go make us some breakfast."

He sneaks up behind her again as she's washing her breakfast plate, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "What are we doing today?" he asks with a smirk. "Movies? Picnic? The pool? More tequila?"

"Nothing," she answers emphatically. "Absolutely nothing."

He gasps. "Don't tell me you're giving up on your _normal_ summer!"

"A normal summer has days where you do nothing but lay on the couch and watch movies, so that's what we're gonna do."

"I bet if we spend all day on that couch, that's not all we're gonna do." He presses a lingering kiss to her favorite spot behind her ear, and she lets her head roll to the side.

"We'll see about that."

She leaves the plate in the sink and drags him down the hall and into the TV room that hardly (never) gets used, and they spend the whole day cuddled up together on the couch, kissing and talking and watching (half paying attention to) some movies.

(And, yeah, okay, they do a little more than that, too.)

... ... ...

She reads about the meteor shower in the paper one morning, and she knows exactly what they're doing tonight.

"It's supposed to rain tonight," he reminds her. "We won't even be able to see it through the clouds."

"It won't rain," she says confidently. "I refuse to believe mother nature would ruin something that beautiful with rain."

"You're crazy." He kisses her cheek, gets up from the kitchen table to wash the breakfast dishes. "You're just lucky that I'm crazier."

Of course, as they're standing in the middle of nowhere watching the beginnings of the meteor shower, the sky opens up and just like he said, the rain pours down on them.

He smiles at her, a real, genuine smile. " _Come on. Time to abandon ship_."

" _No, no, wait_." She grabs his arm, pulls him back to her. " _Just give it a second_." She smiles back at him. " _It'll clear up_."

He pulls her close, holds her hands in his, and she looks up, waiting for the clouds to break. When she looks back at him, he kisses her, and standing with him in the rain in the middle of nowhere, she's so happy she feels like her heart might burst out of her chest.

He pulls away, and she looks into his eyes. " _Promise me this is forever_."

He smiles. " _I promise_."

... ... ...

When Caroline suggests they all take a week at the end of July and get a house on Virginia Beach together, Elena thinks there's no way she'll be able to talk Damon into it.

She might know him better than anyone, but he still finds ways to surprise her.

In fact, he doesn't just go along with it, he loosens up and actually enjoys himself. He plays frisbee with Jeremy and Matt on the beach (though not at his full speed, because _that_ would attract some unwanted attention), and he gladly refills she and Caroline's drinks while they lay in the sun. He takes every chance he gets to throw her over his shoulder and drag her into the ocean. He smiles more and laughs more and he seems truly, genuinely happy for the first time in, oh, _ever_.

On the last night, they steal away from their friends to watch the sunset on the beach. They sit in the sand, and she leans back against his chest while he holds her close, kissing her cheek, her hair, her neck, her shoulder.

"You seemed to enjoy yourself this week," she comments.

He presses another kiss to her temple. "I always enjoy myself with you."

She smiles, reaches up to thread their fingers together. "I thought for sure I'd have to drag you out here with us. I'm glad I didn't have to."

He squeezes her hand. "Just figured if everything's gonna change in a few weeks, I should enjoy what I've got while I've still got it."

She turns around a little so she can see his face, pulling his arm so it drapes around her shoulders. "Not _everything_ is going to change, Damon."

"No," he muses. "Maybe not everything. But Whitmore's a hell of a lot further away than right next to me in my bed."

She sighs, because he's right, and there's really nothing she can say to make it better. It's gonna suck, being away from him, but she knows they can handle it. She loves him, and he loves her, and they didn't come this far just to let a hundred miles tear them apart.

"This has been the perfect summer," she murmurs, watching the sun as it dips below the horizon.

"I've had very few complaints," he agrees.

She turns back to him, finds a sweet little grin on his face, and promptly kisses it away.

Happiest summer ever? She thinks they got pretty damn close.


End file.
